# The justice that comes from faith
*2009-03-19*

> Reflecting on the Feast of St. Joseph and Romans 4:13, Bill Young explores the difference between human justice and the grace that comes through faith.

## Faith over the law

In Romans 4:13, we are reminded that the promise made to Abraham and his descendants to inherit the world did not depend on the law, but was made in view of the justice that comes from faith. This tells us that all depends on faith; everything is grace.

## The example of St. Joseph

The Gospels describe St. Joseph as an upright and just man. When he discovered his promised wife was pregnant before they had lived together, his sense of justice led him to want to divorce her quietly to avoid the law, which required stoning for such an offense. However, something far greater than human justice prompted him to listen to the angel. Despite his own reason and instincts, Joseph trusted the vision that came to him in a dream.

## Grace as a pure gift

This is the justice that comes from faith. As St. Paul's letter to the Romans explains, this is greater than the law and does not depend on it. It is grace—a pure gift from God.

## Applying this to our lives

We should ask ourselves: Have there been times in our lives when justice required us to trust our own instincts, as Joseph originally did? Have there been moments when God asked us to believe in something that seemed completely unbelievable? In those moments, we can turn to St. Joseph for support.

*St. Joseph teaches us how to move beyond our own sense of justice to believe in the unbelievable through faith.*